Sturmoviks vs Panzers...
Posted: 2009-01-03 05:44pm
From a mailing list I'm on once again:
What folows are excerpts from my notes on the most focussed document I ran across, "Deistviya aviatsii po tankam", pgs 94 to 99 in _Sbornik materialov po izucheniya opyta voiny No. 3 Noyabr-Dekabr 1942 g._, published by Voenizdat in 1943. ("Actions of aviation on tanks" in _Collected materials on for the study of wartime experience, No. 3, November-December 1942_, published by Military Publishing in 1943.)
These internal wartime military studies by the Soviets tend to pull very few punches.
Bottom line up front: "... aviation attacks on tanks produce much noise, sometimes produce a strong effect on crew morale, but losses, as a rule, either do not occur or are so slight that they can be ignored."
Further snippets, including the above in context:
Enemy (German) aircraft rarely cause more than 10% of Soviet losses. A T-34 or KV requires a direct hit by a bomb of at least 100kg to be killed. A near miss of up to 1.5 meters by a bomb of 250kg or more may cause minor, easily repairable damage. Tanks are small, airplanes are fast, tanks are very hard to hit as long as they maintain proper spacing of 50-100 meters.
Example: 23 Jan 1942, 23 light and medium tanks come under attack by 48 Ju-88. The Soviet tanks had no air cover and no AAA -- "pretty good conditions for the bombers". Two hours of bombing resulted in no results.
(A number of similar examples cited.)
Conclusion on these examples: "... aviation attacks on tanks produce much noise, sometimes produce a strong effect on crew morale, but losses, as a rule, either do not occur or are so slight that they can be ignored."
The article next turned to range testing of weapons against various vehicles.
HE bombs are essentially ineffective. AT Cluster bombs (PTAB bomblets) work better because of the area covered.
Large fragmentation bombs are effective if they hit within 2-3 meters of a light vehicle.
An IL-2 gets 1 hit per 15 shots under range conditions. Most hits ricochet.
A ShVAK 20mm cannon can only penetrate very light armor.
A VYa 23mm cannon can kill a light tank from the side or rear.
An OKB-15i16 37mm cannon with anti-tank ammunition can kill a light tank from 500m or a medium tank from the side or rear.
Rockets will only harm a tank with a direct hit; a miss of 10cm yields no results.
82mm rockets may kill light tanks. 132mm rockets will kill medium tanks.
However, rockets rarely hit: generally 1 hit per 75 rockets, or 8 to10 IL-2 sorties per hit.
Conclusion: It's only worth attacking tanks that are somehow bunched up: loading & unloading from trains, at crossings, refuelling, etc. It is best to use specially trained crews for tank attack, and captured documents show the Germans are doing exactly this.
Final conclusion: Because of the low damage done to tanks, though, it is best to ignore them and attack, instead:
1) The motorized infantry supporting the tanks
2) The service support of the tanks
... both of which are much easier to kill and killing can take the tanks out of the fight.